Topher Builds a Sherpa - Rear Portal Class 2 comp truck

[Topher Builds]

New portal gears in, TGH mild instead of wild this time, got me right about where I was hoping to be.

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A post shared by topher Builds (@topherbuilds) on Aug 29, 2020 at 7:13am PDT

[lizard lips]

How do you like it compared to the other comp rigs you have?

[Topher Builds]

I like it a lot, it’s an enjoyable drive and has been pretty capable so far. No regerts!

I’ve been happy with all 3 though, not sure if I have a clear favorite but this one has been great to drive.

[pcgab]

Originally Posted by Topher Builds

I like it a lot, it’s an enjoyable drive and has been pretty capable so far. No regerts!

I’ve been happy with all 3 though, not sure if I have a clear favorite but this one has been great to drive.

Excellent build, I especially like the stance after you re-cut the body to flatten out the rake a bit. Looks aggressive enough, and has a bit more realistic feel to it.

Based on the videos, it certainly looks to perform quite well.

I'm starting on a g-speed v3 build and have a few questions, if you don't mind.

How do you like the sherpa vs the g-speed? I would expect them to be pretty similar, performance wise, but am curious how you find them.

Did you choose the ar45 for the rear for any specific reason(s)? I imagine it helps clearance over axle grabbing obstacles of course. Perhaps it helps with steep climbs keeping the rear 'up and out' a bit to improve the angle and thus cog during climbing?

I could be way off here, haha, just thinking through it a bit.

I'm planning on using ssd pro44 axles front and back, but after reading this thread, I'm starting to consider a rear ar45 option.

Cheers~

[Topher Builds]

There wasn’t too much technical thought put into how it would work, other than figuring out how to gear it and expecting more clearance at the rear pumpkin. I just wanted to try it after seeing Brandon and Harley do this on the VS410 platform and see how it would do. Very happy.

If you read back a few posts you’ll see a lot of people ask that same question, as far as how it compares to the gspeed and other chassis options. The best answer I can give is they’re both solid products and you’ll be happy with either. My two rigs are set up too differently from each other for it to be a fair comparison of just the chassis itself, but I do know I’m satisfied with each one.

Hoping to do another Sherpa build down the road, and I already have a pair of gspeed rails on standby for the right opportunity.

[pcgab]

Originally Posted by Topher Builds

There wasn’t too much technical thought put into how it would work, other than figuring out how to gear it and expecting more clearance at the rear pumpkin. I just wanted to try it after seeing Brandon and Harley do this on the VS410 platform and see how it would do. Very happy.

If you read back a few posts you’ll see a lot of people ask that same question, as far as how it compares to the gspeed and other chassis options. The best answer I can give is they’re both solid products and you’ll be happy with either. My two rigs are set up too differently from each other for it to be a fair comparison of just the chassis itself, but I do know I’m satisfied with each one.

Hoping to do another Sherpa build down the road, and I already have a pair of gspeed rails on standby for the right opportunity.

That makes sense. I just assembled my gspeed v3 today(what I have of it all), and found the fit and finish to be quite good. Excellent machining as well.

I may have to try the portal for the rear axle, being able to flip the transfer case to get the overdrive to the rear is very convenient to say the least.

Thank you for the insights, and for documenting another awesome build.

Cheers~

[twade984]

Originally Posted by Topher Builds

Hoping to do another Sherpa build down the road, and I already have a pair of gspeed rails on standby for the right opportunity.

Two questions,

What axles do you have in mind for the next Sherpa?

And do you think it would be worth buying rails only, and building around either an enduro base, or scx10.2? (Stock skids, trans, etc)

[Topher Builds]

Originally Posted by pcgab

That makes sense. I just assembled my gspeed v3 today(what I have of it all), and found the fit and finish to be quite good. Excellent machining as well.

I may have to try the portal for the rear axle, being able to flip the transfer case to get the overdrive to the rear is very convenient to say the least.

Thank you for the insights, and for documenting another awesome build.

Cheers~

No problem, sounds like some fun is in your future. Happy building!

Originally Posted by twade984

Two questions,

What axles do you have in mind for the next Sherpa?

And do you think it would be worth buying rails only, and building around either an enduro base, or scx10.2? (Stock skids, trans, etc)

I’m thinking maybe portals for the next one, but that’s a long ways down the road and maybe not till next year so who knows what will be available then.

I do think the chassis alone is a worthy upgrade. The angled skid makes a significant difference in break over. Gspeed even has a kit that includes most of what’s needed for the enduro swap.

[Topher Builds]

Working on a C2 legal body for the Sherpa. I slacked and missed the first comp of the season this past weekend but am planning on making it to a few this year.

Went with a Creep since it’s lean and mean, having a heck of a time deciding how to paint it but I think I’ve settled on something. Might get it done today. I’ve had some scale diamond plating around from Hot Racing for a while and decided to cut some for the bed. Couple mock up pics...

[Fricker08]

The creep body worked perfect for my last build, looking forward to seeing how you paint it! If you want to go a little further, I was able to mount a Capra interior in mine. Adds a little extra weight but turned out alright



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[Topher Builds]

Wrapped up the new body yesterday. I’ve been wanting to use this green/blue color for a while now and decided to bust it out. Went for a bit of a shop truck look and like the way the plating in the bed pops from main body color. The whole body is matted except for the windows of course and the Holmes hobbies logo on the hood. This was done in bright silver and has a flake type of finish so I left it shiny there.

Thanks for checking it out

Originally Posted by Fricker08

The creep body worked perfect for my last build, looking forward to seeing how you paint it! If you want to go a little further, I was able to mount a Capra interior in mine. Adds a little extra weight but turned out alright

Looks good Fricker! I’ve been wondering what interior I could chop up and put in there so thank you for sharing that. I have an old bench seat type of interior laying around I may try and cut up and fit in soon.

[pcgab]

I love the new body, fantastic color, and excellent detail as usual. The diamond plate is a very nice touch as well.

Well done!

[B-MOW71]

Looks great TB!

I'm digging that color! Gives it that old school look! Bed looks awesome with the plating!

It's cool your using the your logo on the door like your garage sign. I really like your sign! Great simple design that looks great and adds nice scale detail to your garage! I wish I had the imagination to come up with a cool looking sign for my garage! I'll have to get my brain in gear and see if I can come up with something! SRD LV did a great job on it!

[Topher Builds]

Thanks BMow! Glad you like it.

For the logo I just used a logo design app and made the best I could of the free options on there. Whipped this one up in a few minutes, may be worth giving them a look if you want some templates to work with

Originally Posted by pcgab

I love the new body, fantastic color, and excellent detail as usual. The diamond plate is a very nice touch as well.

Well done!

Hey thanks!

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by Topher Builds

Thanks BMow! Glad you like it.

For the logo I just used a logo design app and made the best I could of the free options on there. Whipped this one up in a few minutes, may be worth giving them a look if you want some templates to work with

That's cool! Logo looks great!

I'll have to check out them apps and see what I can come up with!

[Turn'Nburn]

Nice looking rig and definitely a neat idea with the two different axles! Not sure if I missed it or not, but did you use wider hubs on the front to give it the same track width? I'm swapping AR44's and 3gear trans into my Capra and want to keep it the same width. Currently running VP Methods with a .225 hub. What hub do you think will get it back to that? I'm thinking a .725 would be close but I might be off base.

[pcgab]

Originally Posted by Topher Builds

Forgot about the front motor mount, let’s taco bout that for a little bit as I’ve added some shims to these to help get rid of some play in the spur shaft.

First pic. Just the normal motor mount. Here I’ll remove the cover that has TGH printed on it, 3 screws on back.

Second pic. I add a shim here on top of the top bearing, I didn’t take another pic with the shim on but it doesn’t need a lot. Make sure the shaft still spins free after buttoning it back up so you know you didn’t over shim.

I wanted to document this here, I'll drop a note in my thread as well. I shimmed mine, in the above manner, and used 0.4mm on top of the bearing. This took out very nearly all of the slop, while still allowing it to spin freely.

Cheers,
Gable

[Topher Builds]

Originally Posted by Turn'Nburn

Nice looking rig and definitely a neat idea with the two different axles! Not sure if I missed it or not, but did you use wider hubs on the front to give it the same track width? I'm swapping AR44's and 3gear trans into my Capra and want to keep it the same width. Currently running VP Methods with a .225 hub. What hub do you think will get it back to that? I'm thinking a .725 would be close but I might be off base.

Thanks for checking it out. Since I’m using an AR45P rear from a 10.3, it’s virtually the same width as the AR44 variant front axle so I didn’t need to do anything special with the hubs. I’m not too sure which hub would get you closest as I haven’t done the math on the difference in widths from the Capra to the AR44s.

Originally Posted by pcgab

I wanted to document this here, I'll drop a note in my thread as well. I shimmed mine, in the above manner, and used 0.4mm on top of the bearing. This took out very nearly all of the slop, while still allowing it to spin freely.

Cheers,
Gable

Nice, glad it worked out for you. Thanks for following up

[Turn'Nburn]

Ok gotcha. I assumed the Capra and 10.3 axles were the same width. I haven't done much research on them. Thanks for the reply.

[Honeyman108]

Originally Posted by Topher Builds

This one is sort of a birthday build and last hurrah for me as the darn pandemic is going to shrink my rc budget drastically for the near future, but I’ve been kicking around the idea on how to pull one of these off and had to go for it.

I don’t have any parts on hand but I do have things ordered now so the build is starting to take shape.

HH/TGH Sherpa Expert Chassis Kit (includes forward mount and t case)
Axial AR45P rear portal axle
SSD Diamond Front Axle and brass knucks brass chubs
90mm incision front shocks
80mm incision rear shocks
Incision drive shafts
Hardcore RC 12.5” wb links
Mamba micro x
HH snub nose v2 revolver 2040kv
HH v3 servo

That’s the basics of it. May end up changing the shocks at some point but want to see how it does with the different sizes and the rear portal. I’m going to run the reverse cut dead loc racing gears in the Ssd diamond front axle to fix the counter rotation of the portals but allow me to maintain a high pinion on both axles.

The axial portals have a reduction of 1.91 iirc so there’s a lot of room to make up for. I’m going to approach this 3 ways, first with the TGH wild OD portal gears (35%), AR44 diff 27/8 OD (10%) and then I’m hoping to find a way to get the OD on the t case to output to the rear by moving some shafts around (maybe mirrored skid?) for another 15%. I’m hoping this leaves me with somewhere around 30% OD up front.

Open to any thoughts and feedback. My plan B is to run a GC4.2 t case as I’ve already eyeballed that one and think I could get the OD to the back very easily there.

Thanks for reading along. Pic below from the TGH site

Hey Man what Links are you using on the chassis the one that looks black aluminum in the rear? 67mm or 70mm? thanks just starting my first comp build and Gabe from Gspeed has been helping me out but could use some guidance may do four wheel steering also???? Ill send you some organic Honey Form TN for help on this build!!! ,,,,, Buzzzzz....... Buzzzzz.......